06 January 2008

Christmas ends today, at least in Spain, where the Three Kings carried this night all his gifts, and Italy, where the Befana (an old witch whose name derives from Epifania) filled the socks with candies. In Spain today is a big big day for children, in Italy most of the gifts came with Babbo Natale (fat old white bearded man, red dressed, says "ho, ho, ho"... you know).Picking up the tree is a sad moment for children. Turning off the lights and turn to everyday is hard to everybody.And what does all this matter with this drawing?Nothing.I've just made it on the last days. Near the tree.

01 January 2008

I've spent the last days in Sesto, a real paradise for cross-country skiing. It was my first time and I had some forced landings, but I really enjoyed it and I think I'll repeat the experience.Obviously, I made some sketches too.

This is the Baur Hotel, a wonderful building of the late 1800's, just in the shore of the Dobbiaco Lake (there is a fantastic ski trip around).We found this poinsettia on our table at the Zum Klaus restaurant.The food at Zum Klaus was really good, and the decoration had some funny touches like this......and this.

Vacation is a busy time. Too many things to do, too many places to go, it's quite hard to find a moment to open the sketchbook. Meals are the best moment for me, I can talk while drawing so people around don't think I feel crabby, there's a table and there are usually good motifs to draw... or at least a couple of shakers to go on with this series (more shakers here).